Improvement in magazine fire-arms



LOUIS C. RODIER ANDVFRANGIS G. BATES, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

' Specification'forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,439, dated April 29, 1873; application filed March 27, 1813.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Bc it known that we, LoUrs G. Roman and FRANCIS G. Barns, of Spring-held, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachu setts, have invented a new Improvement in Magazine Fire-Arms; and we do'hereby dein that class of lire.- arms commonly termed volcanic or repeating firearms-that is to say,

such as contain several charges in a magazine, within the arm, from which the charges are successively taken and inserted into the arm automatically, or by the movement of the mechanism of the arm; and it consists, first, in the arrangement of the magazine in the rear of and at right angles with the barrel and in the rear of the mechanism of the arm, combined with a lever in connection with a linger-lever, whereby the cartriziges are trans ferred from the magazine directly to the barrel, as more fully hereinafter described; and, secondly, in the arrangement of the hammer upon the same pivot with the operating iin gerlever, combined with and having its main spring arranged longitudinally beneath the barrel of the arm; also, in combining with the operative lever a vertically-moving breechblock and the hammer, whereby the descent of breech-block cocks the hammer, all as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the barrel attached to the frame B, which said frame incloses the mechanism of the arm. Vertically, or nearly so, at the rear ofthe said frame a magazine, C,is arranged,in serted preferably from the lower end of the frame, and inclosed by a slide, G1, in the bottom. The magazine is provided with a spring, C2, upon which the several cartridges are placed and .bears them up, the upper cartridge D being in line with the boreof the barrel. F -is the actuating` lever, which is pivoterl to the frame, and provided with a ring, Ef, or its equivalent, so that a person holding the frame or stock in the hand,'may actuate the said lever by inserting his finger within the ring to throw it forward, as in Fig. 3, or draw it back, as in Fig. 2. Within the frame alever, F, is pivoted atf, or below the lever E. This lever extends up to andin the rear of the upper end of the magazine G. In the upper end of the magazine a slot is formed, as seen in Fig. 2, so that the upper end or nose of the leverFi may swing forward, passing transversely across the magazine to the position denoted by broken lines, Fig. 3. The nose of the lever extends so far inward that in thus pass ing forward it will take the upper cartridge and force it into the barrel, as denoted in broken lines, Fig. 3. The lever F is thus ac tuated by means of the lever E in the following manner: To the ,lever E a finger, c, is hung, and, as the lever E is forced forward to the vposition denoted in Fig. 3, this finger c rises and strikes the shoulder d on the lever vF below the pivot f; then, as the lever E is drawn back, this finger forces the upper end of the lever F forward and with it the cartridge; and when it has reached its extreme forward movement, the finger a escapes from the notch d, and this occurs before the leverl` has been full v drawn back. The nose ot' the lever E then strikes the cheek b on the lever F above the pivot, and in completing its move ment, the lever E forces the lever F bach to the position denoted in Fig. 2, the elasticity of the lever F allowing it to pass the then up per cartridge, and fall behind it preparatory to throwing it (the second cartridge) into the barrel. The spring U2 forces the cartridges up so soon as the upper one is removed. G is a breeclrblock,` arranged to move vertically, so as to close the breech-end, as seen in Fig. 2, or drop down to open the breech, as seen in Fig. 3. vIo thus move the breech-block, an arm, E2, extends from the lever E inward, and works in a groove, G1, in the said breech-block, so that as the lever E is thrown fbrward, the arm Ez draws down the breech-block, and, when the lever is drawn back, the said arm throws up the breech-block. L is the hammer, hung upon the same pivot as the lever E, the pivot being denoted in solid blank 1n 'desirable; but we prefer that the completion "is drawn .down to th'rw back the breech-block,

of the. trigger will be thrown' forward, as de- -.noted; in Figs. 3 and 4, by coming in contact upon a pivot, t, in the frame, a'retractor-lever,

\ structed with a nose, T, vwhich', when the breech-block is np,lies for\vard.-o f the-rear Figs. 2, 3, and f. The hammer extends rearward andA is of hooked form, passing through the breech-block G and turning upward, so that when the breech-block is up the nose of the hammer will extend through a slot in the breech-block, as seen in Fig. 2, to strike the cartridge-head. When the lever E is thrown jibnward, as before described, it strikes the hammer forward of the pivot upon a shoulder and 'carries the hammer with it'to full-cock, if

o f -the movement of the hammer should be made'by thedescending breech-block, which isdone by-the block `striking the hammerl before its movement is completed, and the movement of the block, being more rapid than 'the lever, forces the hammer a little in advance-of the lever, as seen in Fig. 3, 'and in "which positionthe hammer is caught by the .spring on. 'The mainsprin g n ext-ends forward Ybeneath the barrel iu a chamber, N, formed in the`frame, inclosing the mainspring beneath the barrel. Thetrigger I is pivoted to the lever Eat/ i,'and vswings with it. The upper endet' the trigger extends up above the -pivot on whichA the hammer and le'ver are hun g, and so as to strike the 'springen When the lever leaving fthe .hammer cocked, the finger-piece zwiththeham'uier at full-cock; then, by draw- 4ing'the trigger back, as denoted in Fig. 6, the- `spring m is raised from, and so as to free, the hammer 5 the mainspring av then acts to throw the hammer from the position-in Fig. 3 to that in Fig. 2, striking the cartridgelhead with sufjcient force to cause explosion.

In order to withdraw the lexploded shell and throw it from the arm, a plate oif'chnte, I, is hung in the rear of the barrel, [at Q ,and which rests on the breechblock when it is up, as seen in Fig. 2; but Wheu'the breechblock moves downward this pIatePA-falls. to the position denoted in Fig. 3, exposing the rear end of the barrel. `Below the breech-block, and

T is hun This extends. up'faiid is conend ofthe barrel and the rim of thecartridge, as denoted in broken lines, Fig. 3. When the breech-block descends,`and immediately after'` it has opened the rearend ot' the barrel andl allowed 'the plate Pfto drop, the lower end of the breech-block strikesan arm, T2,on the 1ever T, and in the r'ear of the pivot I,- s' o that the further descent of the breeclI -blockcauses -the retractorto be thrown quickly baek,as

shown in Fig. 5i, andin its backwardmove ment it takes the exploded shell, (orcartridge,

it' it be not. -exploded,) themovement.ofthe lever being sutliciently quick to cause the shell to run up the inclined plate P and eject it from the arm. A suitable spring, S, returns the retractor when the breech-block rises, and in advance .of the cartridge which is being inserted.l

It' at any time it be desirable to introduce a cartridge at the rear end of the barrel and hold in reserve vthose in themagazine, it is only necessary to arrest the forward movement of the lever E so soon as the'breech-block and plate P 'have dropped and the hammer is cocked, and before the finger a engages the lever F. In that condition a cartridge may be inserted from above the inclined plate P into the barrel. Then the parts return, as before described, the lever F not being moved, be

cause the lever E is not thrown suficiently far forward to have the finger a. engage the lever F. Thus this arm possesses 'all' the advantages of a breech-loader combined with those of the magazine. We claim as our invention- 1. The barrel A and a magazine or chamber in rear of the said barrel for supplying cartridges, in combination with the lever F, actuated by the finger-lever to transfer the cartridges from the magazine to the barrel, substantially as described.

2. In combina-tion with the subject-matter of the first clause of the claim, the vertically- `moving breech-block G also actuated bythe.

said finger-lever, substantially as described.`

3. In combination with the verticallymov ing breech-block G and lever E, the hammer L, hung forward of the said breech-block and -adapted to be cocked by the successive operation of the lever and breech-block, substantially as described.

4. In combination with the barrel A, vertically-moving breech-block G, andV lever F, the plate I), hinged to the frame in the rear ot' the barrel to cover and -close the passage from the magazine to the arm, form a chute for the ejection, and guide for the insertion of acartridge from the magazine, or by hand, substantially as set fort-h.

5. In an arm having the hammer hung forward of the breech-block, the double spring N, one part thereof operating as the mainspring and the other as a springsear, the comhina-tion b eing substantially as described.

. '6.' In .combination with the ingenlever and hammer, hung'upon the.; same pivot, the trigger I, pivoted to the finger-lever, and extending up so as to release the hammer for dis charge, substantially as specified.

LOUIS C. RODIER.

. FRANCIS G. BATES.

' -Witnessesr 'A-. J. Tl'nnrrs,

Jos. C. EARLE. 

